


The Frozen Unknown

by landofhorses



Category: 19th Century CE RPF, Historical RPF, The Hunger - Alma Katsu
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Anal Sex, Angst, Biting, Even Though I Don't Know If This Counts, I'm Going To Go Ahead And Tag This With, M/M, Rough Sex, When Sex Doesn't Fix Your Problems :(, With Some Mild Comfort Mixed In
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-16
Updated: 2020-11-16
Packaged: 2021-03-09 21:21:39
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,430
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27592657
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/landofhorses/pseuds/landofhorses
Summary: Their attempt at rescue was a miserable failure. The snow on the mountain was too deep to permit passage to either animal or man, and they had returned to Stutter’s Fort nearly frozen through and empty handed. They’d have to wait until the snow melted some, likely longer, as all the abled-bodied men at the fort had been called forth to join in on the war against Mexico. This would leave their families without any aid for weeks, perhaps months. Bill could only imagine the state of his wife and child, knew that they must be finding it difficult without him.
Relationships: William McCutchen (1816-1895)/James F. Reed
Comments: 2
Kudos: 5





	The Frozen Unknown

**Author's Note:**

> Really toeing the line with what can be realistically be considered The Hunger fanfiction with this one, just know that this is indeed set within The Hunger's universe. McCutchen isn't really in the novel much, and so most of my information on this man comes from real life, relying heavily in particular on J. Quinn Thornton's account of the Donner Party tragedy.
> 
> Happy early birthday to me, and a happy late 220th birthday to my main man James F. Reed

Bill tossed Reed – James rather, would be James throughout the duration of this encounter as they had agreed – on the cot not exactly as gentle as he should have done. He winced, James was light, and Bill had overestimated the force required to move him. He grunted out a poor apology for the rough treatment – words had never been his strong suit – before taking the time to look his fill.

The man had been stripped of most of his clothing, only having his shirtsleeves and pants remaining. His braces hung limply on either side of him on the bed. James’s pretty green eyes were held wide open in a way that reminded Bill of a cornered rabbit, glassy and filled with a nameless nervous tension. Bill didn’t like it, but James hadn’t come here to talk. Knowing this, he could only do as he was asked, help him forget.

Their attempt at rescue was a miserable failure. The snow on the mountain was too deep to permit passage to either animal or man, and they had returned to Stutter’s Fort nearly frozen through and empty handed. They’d have to wait until the snow melted some, likely longer, as all the abled-bodied men at the fort had been called forth to join in on the war against Mexico. This would leave their families without any aid for weeks, perhaps months. Bill could only imagine the state of his wife and child, knew that they must be finding it difficult without him.

“C’mon.” Pleaded James quietly, shaking Bill from his thoughts. The man’s gaze had turned from its spot on the ceiling to him expectantly, and he hurried to remove his braces and pants before James could change his mind.

Once sufficiently disrobed – he kept his shirtsleeves on, the room while not freezing, was far colder than he would have liked – he covered the man’s body with his own. He was careful not to let any of his weight fall upon him, he was well over twice the size of James and he was worried that he might crush him.

“You gotta tell me if this becomes something you don’t want.” Bill spoke softly in his ear, in-between the light, nipping presses of his teeth against the man’s neck. James turned his head then, making Bill lift his own so he could look him in the eyes.

He seemed confused; his gaze shifted rapidly across Bill’s face as if searching for something. He opened his mouth to repeat himself thinking that James might not have heard him, but the other man nodded his head in agreement before he had a chance to. This was accompanied by a hand at the back of his head leading him down for a kiss, which he allowed.

Their lips met far more roughly than in any other kiss they had shared previously, and Bill chuckled, understanding it for the message it was. He moved his hand downwards and momentarily presses it against James’s already half-hard cock, making the man buck up into his grasp with a muffled whimper.

He breaks them apart; their kiss having devolved into nothing but panting into each other’s mouths. Bill then goes to unbutton the man’s pants, mouthing at his throat once again with a renewed vigor. His teeth were digging in properly now, but still not hard enough to leave a mark.

“Please.” James panted in Bill’s ear, and he complies wordlessly, removing himself from the man’s neck so he can lift his hips and pull his pants down fully. Now that they had both been freed from the confines of their clothing he slots them together, the first couple of thrusts of his hips causing him to grunt at the friction on his, up till now, neglected dick.

James is biting at his own hand to muffle the loud hitching noises that tumble out of him each time their pricks connect, and Bill leans down to press his cheek against the other man’s to hear them better and to place open mouthed kisses on his shoulder. 

“Please – I need..” Spoken almost inaudibly and in between puffs of breath into Bill’s ear. He stills himself and earns a whine in answer from the other man, which he opts to ignore in favor of sitting back on his heels to get a better view. James has a wild look in his eyes, his anxiety replaced with something else entirely. Bill much preferred whatever this was to the pure terror that had been present earlier.

“You’re gonna need to tell me what you want sweetheart.” He says gruffly, tilting James’s head up and leaning down so that he could kiss him. He figures that he might already know what the other man wants but needs to hear him say it anyway.

“I can’t – please just..” James whimpers unable to finish his sentence, his nervous gaze shifting from place to place in the room.

“I don’t know what you want unless you tell me.” Bill makes an attempt at a soothing tone, takes one of his large hands and strokes a bearded cheek with it. James leans into the sensation and takes in a deep breath as if to steal himself for what was coming, releasing it out his nose before speaking. 

“I need you in me.” He whispers finally, unable to look in Bill’s direction. He nods, and then feels incredibly stupid when he realizes that James cannot see him.

“Yeah – Yeah, alright. I think I’ve got something here that might work for that.” He mutters and gets off the cot to rummage through the desk. He lets out a small triumphant noise when he finds what he’s looking for, a small pot of cream that he’d been given by John Stutter to prevent his hands from cracking in the cold during their ill fated first rescue attempt. James watches him with curiosity as he returns to the bed, but nods with understanding when he sees what it is that Bill has in his hands, likely having something similar himself in his own room.

“This might be easier if you get on your knees.” He says after climbing back on the cot. He figures that with both his size and the limited space on the bed that this might be the best way to go about doing this, and James rushes to comply, sticking his – rather shapely, in Bill’s opinion – ass in the air.

He can’t stop himself from reaching out to touch the other man, sliding his hands up his thighs and watching as he shivers in anticipation. He doesn’t make him wait much longer before he begins to slick up his fingers, James has since turned his head, his eyes wide and watching this process with great interest.

Once he’s satisfied, he begins by circling one of his digits around James’s entrance, who flinches at the contact.

“Easy, it’s ok.” He mumbles stroking at the other man’s side with his free hand like one might do with a startled horse. James lets out a breath he’d been holding and tries to settle back down again pressing his head against the lone pillow on the cot. Taking that as conformation he begins to slowly push his finger inside, carefully watching James’s face for any signs of pain as he didn’t quite trust the other man to tell him if he had been hurt. Seeing nothing obvious he continued on, moving his finger and bending till he was ready to add a second. James grunted at this additional intrusion but did nothing else otherwise.

Bill pushed them in and out, spreading them occasionally, searching for that spot he knew existed from the few other times he’d done something similar. It didn’t take long to find it, knew he had hit it when the man let out a muffled groan into the pillow and rocked his hips ups to meet with Bill’s hand. After that it was easy enough to add a third, and James was now an active participant pushing himself up onto his fingers, his cock hard and leaking besides his belly.

“I’m ready, c’mon.” He says a bit too loudly his voice breathy. Bill laughs at his impatience but withdraws himself, pressing a quick kiss to the man’s back. With his already slick hand he grabbed himself and gave his dick a couple of hard tugs, clenching his teeth to prevent himself from groaning at the feeling of his own touch.

He lines himself up but pauses, waiting to receive some sort of conformation from James. The man rolls his eyes and nods, which is enough for Bill to begin to make his way forward. James screws his eyes shut at the feeling of something much larger than three fingers being inside of him, and he lets out a loud woosh of air as Bill became fully seated within him reaching behind himself to grab at the other man’s thigh to still him for a moment.

Bill takes the other man’s prick in hand, strokes it idly, and James releases him from his hold allowing the other man to begin slowly moving his hips, giving him more time to get used to the sensation.

From there he picks up the pace, not rough exactly but not quite gentle either. The man below him was being far louder than perhaps he should be, nearly shouting each time a well-placed thrust propels Bill’s cock into that special place inside him. He grips the edge of the bed with a hand to give himself more leverage to drive his dick in as hard as James seems to want and so that he can lean forward to bite at the meat of the man’s shoulder to stifle his own noises.

He was close, but so was James, his prick weeping into Bill’s hand as he pulled it in time with his own movements.

“That’s it, that’s it, you can do it.” Bill is panting with exertion, and James let’s out a muffled groan into his hand at the sound of his voice. The man’s head had turned so that his gaze was focused on the wall opposite of the bed, hand in his mouth to keep himself quiet. He looked dazed, confused almost, like he didn’t quite know where he was. “Be good for me, c’mon.” Punctuated with a particularly hard jab of his hips and his hand sliding up and down faster on James’s cock.

He finishes then, with a whimper rather than a shout, into Bill’s hand and on his own stomach and shirt. He stopped for a moment to allow James time to gather himself, the rhythmic internal clenching as the man came to completion had him gritting his teeth to prevent himself from moving. He kept his hand working on him though, until he was sure that he was through. This caused the man to make tiny, helpless, little noises that he either didn’t bother trying or couldn’t mask. Something fierce and protective rose in Bill’s chest at the sounds, it was confusing and not entirely unlike the way he felt for his wife. He decided that it might be for the best if he ignored it for now, and the confounding feelings didn’t stay for long as they were soon replaced with a swell of pride at a job well done when he caught the look on the other man’s face.

James was completely devoid of any of the anxiety that he was usually riddled with, was calmer than Bill had ever seen him. He relishes in this, pressing happy pecks of his lips along the man’s shoulders and his back.

It doesn’t take long however, for Bill’s own needs to return and he begins moving again in earnest in search of his own completion. Muffled moans coming from underneath him urged him on harder, the strength of his thrusts causing the cot to bang up against the wall. His teeth were properly digging into James’s shoulder now, too far gone to care about leaving marks.

He came then, biting down hard enough to break the skin and making James whine at the stinging pain. Bill places licking kisses on the mark in way of apology but can’t deny the flash of heat he feels looking at the bright red blotch of skin on an otherwise unmarred pale shoulder.

“You alright?” Bill asks, pulling himself out after catching his breath for a moment. James makes a small sound as he does so but makes no move to answer the question. He hovers above him for a moment, unsure of what to do, but goes to remove his shirt – seeing as he has nothing else – to set the man back to rights the best he can before he has to return to his own room.

He wipes at James’s chest, makes an aborted attempt to scrub at the man’s own shirt which he abandons quickly after. He then goes to clean the inside of the man’s thighs which are slick with Bill’s own spend. Once finished he throws the soiled piece of clothing to a corner of the room and flips James onto his back so that Bill can press their lips together.

When he does so however, he finds that James’s eyes are dewy with unshed tears and Bill baulks. Had he hurt him? He looks at the mark still visible on the man’s right shoulder, dread drowning out any of his previous feelings, perhaps he had been rougher than he ought to have been. Bill knew that James was a delicate creature.

“I’m – I’m sorry.” He tries, not used to apologizing. “I didn’t mean – ”

“It’s not you.” James cuts him off, clearly understanding where Bill’s train of thought was heading. He wiped at his eyes with a hand, frustrated. “I just – ” He tries but doesn’t finish, and Bill nods like he understands.

“We’ll get ‘um, you’ll see. They’ll be alright.” He says not quite believing it and unused to providing comfort. It works though, as the man’s gaze focuses on him rather than whatever dark thought had overtaken him.

He kisses him them, far more sweetly than he was prone to, and moves him so that Bill can lay on his back with James on top of him. He rubs small circles into the man’s back like he’d do for his daughter after she had a nightmare while James releases near silent sobs into Bill’s shoulder. 

Bill let him, figuring that he’d had time before James had to return to his room and to whatever else came afterwards. 

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know how my life came to the point of basically writing Donner Party RPF, but I can't find it within myself to regret it.
> 
> You can follow me on twitter where I talk about things relating to the Donner Party and The Hunger @JamsWaggon


End file.
